the man is holy throughout and that he has knowledge, knowledge acquired through his own efforts. For Siddhartha, this is also the method he pursues, seeking his own way rather than learning from another. The Buddha would argue that joining the Sangha is the way to attain this knowledge on the basis of teachings and that this is the road to spiritual enlightenment, but Siddhartha decides instead that he must seek his own way and learn from experience, which he could not do in the Sangha.
The two young men listen to the Buddha and absorb what he says, Govinda more than Siddhartha, for Govinda wishes to study and learn with the master:
The Illustrious One spoke in a soft but firm voice, taught the four main points, taught the Eightfold Path; patiently he covered the usual methods of teaching with examples and repetition. Clearly and quietly his voice was carried to his listeners--like a light, like a star in the heavens (Hesse 23).
This teaching by the Buddha is a retelling of the First Sermon in which he discusses avoiding the two extremes and states that he who manages thus has won the Truth and that the Buddha has gained the Middle Path which gives vision, knowledge, calm, insight, enlightenment, and Nirvana. The Middle Path is the Eightfold Way. The physical body, that which is always grasping, is suffering. The origin of suffering is to be found in the craving for sensation. The cessation of suffering is the giving up of the longing that is suffering, the giving up of craving. When the Buddha gave up craving, he also gave up suffering. This is part of the Middle Path. The Buddha is here concerned primarily with this release from craving and thus with the cessation of suffering, and this cessation is achieved by he who has achieved the Eightfold Way and the Middle Path. To do this is to achieve release from the cravings of the physical self and to escape from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Buddha has attained the...